Paterson, NJ — landlord and rental rules

Paterson's Chapter 381 limits an annual increase to 5% of the existing base rent, or 3.5% where the head of household is 65 or over or has been found disabled by the Social Security Administration. Coverage turns on who lives in the building: an owner-occupied dwelling is reached at three or more units, and one the owner does not occupy at two.

§381-3E splits on owner occupancy: three or more units where the owner occupies one, two or more where they do not. Neither the city's own tenant brochure nor the DCA survey carries that split — both give a single figure — so an owner-occupied two-family is outside the ordinance and an owner-occupied three-family is inside it.

Base rents run from 11 January 1976. The new-construction exemption is the trap for a buyer of recent stock: it is not automatic, and a developer who did not claim it in the thirty days before the certificate of occupancy lost it permanently — so ask for the filing rather than inferring the exemption from the year built. The city's own Landlords/Tenants Bill of Rights states an exemption for buildings whose certificate of occupancy issued after 1976, which the amending ordinance supersedes.

Annual cap

5%

Vacancy decontrol

No

Unit counts

2+ units

Owner-occupied exemption

Yes

New Jersey has no statewide rent control. Roughly 100 municipalities impose their own, with caps, exemptions and vacancy rules that differ town by town.

This municipality has not been researched. Read the municipal code — or call the clerk — before assuming rents can be reset on purchase or turnover.

Chapter 381 carries no general vacancy decontrol. The one decontrol it grants, at §381-24, is for a formerly abandoned property that has been rehabilitated — not for an ordinary turnover.

The DCA survey's exceptions column for Paterson ends with the words "Vacancy Decontrol", which reads as the general provision and is not one. A pro-forma that marks a below-market unit to market when the tenant leaves is modelling a right this chapter grants only to somebody who rehabilitated an abandoned building.

Vacancy decontrol

No

The New Jersey Anti-Eviction Act requires good cause for every residential eviction statewide, with no small-landlord exemption. A month-to-month tenant cannot be removed simply by ending the term.

Practical effect for a buyer: an occupied unit conveys with its tenant, and a business plan that depends on delivering the building vacant needs a lawful cause for each unit before it is a plan.

Chapter 381 requires a landlord of a covered dwelling to register with the Rent Leveling Office. The ordinance states no fee for the filing.

In addition to the statewide landlord identity registration under N.J.S.A. 46:8-27, not instead of it. Chapter 175's separate turnover certificate is stated in the inspection entry below.

Chapter 175 requires a certificate of re-rental approval before every new occupancy of a housing space. The initial inspection is $50 for the first unit and $20 for each additional unit; reinspections are $25 and $15 respectively.

A housing space in an owner-occupied two-family is excluded. The landlord may charge the tenant no more than $5 toward the certificate. Because occupancy waits on approval, the turnover model must include the inspection queue rather than only repair time.

Pre-1978 one- and two-family rentals must be inspected for lead-based paint hazards at tenant turnover or every three years, whichever comes first. The certificate is valid for two years.

Budget the inspection and any remediation into the turnover cost of every pre-1978 unit, not into a one-off line at closing.

Construction

Built before 1978

In effect since 2022-07-22.